Just call me Thor - Chapter 311

Chapter 311: Shadow Source
A Money Tree that rains gold coins? Mike wasn’t doubting Foreskin, but he was definitely curious to see it for himself.

“Show me the goods first, then we’ll talk payment,” Mike said, always clear about his terms.

Foreskin conjured a shadowy image of a sapling in his palm and introduced it, “This Money Tree is a rare gem from my private space. This particular one is a once-in-99-years find!”

“Hold on, why once in 99 years?” Mike asked, intrigued.

Foreskin replied meticulously, “Because I built my private space 99 years ago.”

Fair enough.

Mike examined the sapling closely. It looked like a Christmas tree adorned with strings of gold coins, quite a delightful sight.

Taking the sapling, Mike said righteously, “Look at you, with our relationship, you just need to ask for help. No need for gifts, why waste money like this?”

After securing the sapling, Mike warned, “Next time, don’t test me with such things!”

In his heart, Mike silently added: Because I really can’t resist such tests.

Foreskin couldn’t help but laugh and cry at Mike’s warning. He had asked Mike to chat with Apollo to help ground him a bit.

In the past, Shadow Nine had always been around to keep an eye on Apollo. Even if Apollo wasn’t grounded, at least he wouldn’t do anything too outrageous.

Now, without Shadow Nine’s restraint, and with Foreskin unable to influence Apollo, things were different. Especially after Morpheus had intervened to stop Apollo, Apollo had become a true loner.

Even when Shadow Nine was around, Apollo had walked the edge of losing control. Now, without Shadow Nine, if Apollo lost himself in his thoughts, the consequences could be disastrous!

With no other choice, Foreskin had to ask Mike to keep Apollo company.

“Leave it to me!” Mike said, patting his chest. “If you give me a few more Money Trees, I might just move next to your boss.”

“That’s not necessary…” Foreskin wiped the sweat from his forehead and saw Mike off.

No matter what, Shadow Nine’s plan had succeeded brilliantly but also left a mess for everyone else. However, Shadow Nine seemed to have great confidence in Mike. He believed that Mike would handle everything properly.

Having been by Mike’s side for so long, Shadow Nine had seen Mike go through all sorts of situations. He trusted Mike’s character and way of doing things completely.

Moreover, as Mike’s strength grew, so would his influence. Shadow Nine staying by Mike’s side would become more of a hindrance than a help.

When Morpheus rose to power, he didn’t have a protector by his side! Ultimately, a truly powerful potential Supreme Being is their own protector!

Shadow Nine understood this, and so did Mike.

…

In his private space, a flash of lightning heralded Mike’s arrival.

“Fool, where’s my weapon?” Mike asked angrily.

They had agreed to send the SSS-tier Force of Nature to the Abyss. Who knew the big show in the Abyss would end, and the Force of Nature still wasn’t ready?

“You’re asking me? I should be asking you!” Master Fool retorted angrily, turning the tables. “What weird stuff did you add to the Sea of Truth?!”

Master Fool pointed to Thor’s Sea, and Mike followed her gaze. A black shadow enveloped the Force of Nature, floating in Thor’s Sea, which had turned inky black.

“What is this?” Mike fell silent, puzzled.

Master Fool snorted, “You don’t even know when your materials have been tampered with. One day, you won’t even know how you died!”

“Impossible, the Shadow element materials were from Shadow Nine…” Mike stopped mid-sentence, realizing what had happened.

“That old trickster fooled me again!” Mike cursed inwardly, “Eye of Truth, Overload Mode, activate!”

[Overload Mode activated—]

Under Mike’s scrutiny, the information about the black substance was successfully parsed.

[Shadow Source—provides all materials needed for Shadow element Sea of Truth upgrades]

[After merging with the Shadow Source, the Sea of Truth will periodically produce Shadow element materials]

[After merging with the Shadow Source, gain the qualification to challenge the Shadow element God]

[…]

Reading the information, Mike fell silent. This thing definitely wasn’t from Apollo. If it were, Apollo would have meticulously noted everything he thought needed explaining.

“Shadow Nine…” Mike sighed, shaking his head without saying more.

Aside from SSS-tier talents and a few top-tier pieces of equipment, the [Shadow Source] was probably the most valuable item Mike had ever acquired!

“Shadow element God challenge qualification…” Mike pondered this information, feeling something was off.

Wait a minute! Shadow Nine leaving the Shadow Source for him meant Shadow Nine wasn’t the Shadow element God! Otherwise, what would it mean for Mike to challenge Shadow Nine?

That old trickster was still hiding things from Mike! He almost got fooled by Shadow Nine’s sentimental act!

“Based on what I know, Calderon should be on the paths of [Slaughter] and [Death]. But as for Shadow Nine, Mike had no clue which path he was on!”

Mike had always thought Shadow Nine was a Shadow element powerhouse. Now it seemed things weren’t that simple!

Thinking too much about Shadow Nine wouldn’t help. Mike decided to focus on the task at hand.

“Think of something happy, like the Money Tree I got for free.”

Mike’s mood instantly improved. He planted the Money Tree next to Thor’s Sea and gave it a shake.

“Shake it, and get 568 gold coins!”

Seeing 568 gold coins fall into his hands, Mike beamed with joy and couldn’t help but exclaim, “This tree really is a Money Tree!”

After planting the Money Tree, a notification popped up in front of Mike.

[Each entity in the private space can shake the tree once every 24 hours to receive a random amount of gold coins.]

[The more times you shake it, the more gold coins you can get.]

[Higher luck increases the chance of obtaining special items when shaking.]

“No way,” Mike muttered, glancing at his own stats. His Luck was 17, already considered top-tier. Yet, he had only shaken out less than 600 gold coins. If it were someone else, they’d be losing big time.

Mike casually called over a dwarf, “Shorty, you there, the tallest one.”

At his last words, all the dwarves stopped their work and proudly walked over to Mike. The boss was calling them!

Mike pointed at the Money Tree, signaling Shorty to step forward. “Give it a shake.”

Shorty extended his rough hand and gave the tree a shake.

Thud—

A bottle of fake liquor fell into the dwarf leader’s hands. Without needing Mike’s prompt, Shorty uncorked the bottle. The intoxicating aroma of the fake liquor spread, making every dwarf’s eyes glaze over, drool dripping down their beards.

Wiping his mouth, the dwarf leader pointed at the bottle, “Boss, this…”

Mike generously said, “It’s yours.”

“Gulp, gulp—”

The dwarf leader tilted his head back and drained the bottle in one go. His face turned beet red, and he swayed a few times before collapsing to the ground.

Mike called out, “Dorian, take Shorty back to the dorm to rest.”

Before Dorian could arrive, Mike continued, “And note down that drinking during work hours will result in forfeiting this month’s bonus.”

All the dwarves turned to look at their boss. They hadn’t interacted much with Mike before. They’d always heard that bat who loved chicken legs badmouthing the boss, calling him a big bad guy.

The dwarves hadn’t believed it. To them, working for the boss meant plenty of booze and food. What could be better?

Until today, they saw another side of their boss.

“Those on duty, continue working,” Mike called out. “Those off duty, gather around. I’ve got good news for you!”

Dwarves, werewolves, miners, vampires, fishermen—various beings gathered in front of Mike, curious about their boss and the little sapling beside him.

“This tree is a good thing,” Mike introduced. “Shake it, and you can get gold coins or special items.”

Shorty’s drunken example was the best proof. Word spread quickly, and with the boss’s reputation, everyone soon believed Mike.

“Now, I’m opening this tree to you all,” Mike said, pulling out a small blackboard with the following written on it:

“Shake it, 10 silver coins per shake! Once every 24 hours! If you shake out gold coins, the fee is waived! If you shake out special items, you get an 20% discount on the purchase price!”

Ten silver coins were a small amount for everyone present. Soon, someone eagerly stepped up to shake the tree.

A dwarf shook out one gold coin, breaking even and walking away disappointed.

The second, a werewolf, shook out a high-tier wolf fang! The lucky werewolf happily paid the 10 silver coin fee and used 800 work points to redeem the fang.

With a good example set, more people lined up eagerly, excited to see what they could shake out. If it was gold coins, they wouldn’t lose anything. If it was a special item, they’d hit the jackpot!

Mike stood by, quickly analyzing the pattern.

“Most people shake out one or two coins. I shook out 568 coins in one go, which is already strong.”

Looking at the werewolf with the wolf fang, Mike nodded thoughtfully. “If you shake out a special item, it will be something the shaker desires most.”

For example, Shorty got liquor, and the werewolf got a wolf fang. Such special items weren’t very useful to Mike. It was better to sell them to his subordinates to offset their wages. This way, they essentially worked for Mike for free…

However, Mike couldn’t understand one thing. With a Luck value of 17, why hadn’t he gotten a special item?

Following these two rules, Mike quickly realized a bug.

“Wait a minute!” He recalled the gold coins he had shaken out. “If my ‘special item’ is gold coins, does that mean I can only shake out money from the Money Tree?!”

This top-tier Money Tree was like a treasure chest for others. For Mike, it was a literal Money Tree! Even if he maxed out his Luck, he could only shake out money!

Accepting this fact, Mike watched the line of people shaking the tree. He wasn’t in a hurry, letting them shake at their own pace. Mike was guaranteed to profit.

Moreover, due to the special items they could obtain, most people would be drawn to the Money Tree, remembering the 24-hour interval. They wouldn’t need reminders; they’d come to shake it on their own!

This was why Mike set the 10 silver coin fee in the first place. If it were free, people wouldn’t value it. If it were mandatory, it would backfire. Charging a fee made it more enticing!

Mike had marketing figured out.

After setting up the Money Tree, Mike found Master Fool to check on the Force of Nature.

Integrating the [Shadow Source] with the Force of Nature would take some time. The only good news was that it would definitely be an SSS-tier piece of equipment, and a top-tier one at that.

“Guaranteed to be done in 12 hours at the latest!” Master Fool promised one last time.

Mike didn’t push further, “Don’t forget you still owe me 2 million Lord merits.”

With that, Mike returned to reality world.

Back in his dorm, Mike found himself with nothing to do. He couldn’t climb the tower, and there was no Shadow Nine to chat with.

The long night stretched ahead, companionless. Mike even considered going back to the Tower of Truth to chat with Apollo. But given Apollo’s current mood, he decided against it.

Lying in bed, Mike stared at the ceiling while Shadow Three lay on the floor.

Tick-tock, tick-tock—the seconds passed.

4:00 AM.

“Shadow Three, are you asleep? I can’t sleep.”

“Fourth Bro, I’m already asleep.”

“Then how are you answering me, sleepwalking?”

…

At 6:11 AM, Mike had just fallen asleep when a series of knocks came from the door, accompanied by Kaelum’s excited voice, “Mike, Mike, something big happened!”

“Mike, did you know you had a Second Awakening?”

“Wait… something’s not right.”

Kaelum slapped the door open, his face full of shock and surprise, “Holy fuck, Mike, you had a Second Awakening?!”